QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 3.0md

Earthquake near Hydesville, CA

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 23 km (14 mi) NE of Hydesville, CA, at 6:56 am PDT on 14 October 2026 (13:56 UTC), 4.4 km deep. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

USGS: 23 km NE of Hydesville, CA

6:56 am PDT, Oct 14, 2026 · · 4.4 km deep · released about 920 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 5 kmTrinity County 65 kmDel Norte County 120 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
6:56 am PDT on 14 October 2026 ()
Where
23 km (14 mi) NE of Hydesville, CA · earthquakes near Hydesville
Magnitude
M 3.0 (md)
Depth
4.4 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Humboldt County, 5 km NW
Nearest mapped fault
Mad River fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1 hour ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 36 km (22 mi) from the epicentre. In Hydesville, 23 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Hydesville 23 km, intensity II · Pine Hills 23 km, intensity II · Bayside 24 km, intensity II · Blue Lake 24 km, intensity II · Fortuna 24 km, intensity II · Humboldt Hill 26 km, intensity II · Arcata 27 km, intensity II · Rio Dell 27 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 920 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 12,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 920 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.4 on 2022-12-20 — about 130,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 48 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 34 km W of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 19 km N of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 Near Rio Dell, California · 33 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 5.8 Near Eureka, California · 17 km NW of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 40.6770, -123.8893. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humboldt County, CA 5 km (3 mi) NW earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 65 km (41 mi) E earthquakes near Trinity County
Del Norte County, CA 120 km (74 mi) N earthquakes near Del Norte County
Siskiyou County, CA 152 km (95 mi) NE earthquakes near Siskiyou County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

What changedFromToWhen
felt reports12
reported intensitynot reported2.2
felt reportsnot reported1

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.